Draymond Green recently appeared on Kai Cenat’s Twitch stream, where he spoke about various things around the league. Among the subjects was his former Warriors teammate, Kevin Durant.
Cenat asked Green who the toughest player he had ever had to guard in his career. And Green has played against greats like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Additionally, he faced a prime Stephen Curry in practice for several years. Yet the toughest player he ever had to guard was none of them; it was Kevin Durant.
“The hardest player I had to guard in my career is KD. KD in OKC…Yeah, after that, I figured him out. Like Slim can’t score on me no more. No, he’s gonna score on everybody. But I got better and learned more about his game, but OKC and just coming into the league and figuring… Oh my god. No chance. And now, you know I give most of these n****s hell.”
Kevin Durant in the Thunder was almost unguardable. It is his stint with them that qualifies Durant to be one of the greatest scorers in NBA history. He needed a super team to win his championships, but individually, his best run was with the Thunder only. Durant averaged 27.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists and won the scoring title and the regular season MVP award during his time with them.
Draymond Green then moved on to give Nikola Jokic his flowers, as he is presently his toughest matchup in the league.
“The hardest now is Joker. I play with Steph (Curry) so I don’t have to, I don’t have that headache… Luka [Doncic] will always be one of the toughest covers. Okay. But that ain’t my matchup.”
“Of my matchups, the hardest to guard right now is Joker. And believe it or not, people won’t.. I’m not even gonna say this one because I won’t give him this advantage over me. Joker isn’t joking.”
“Wait, there’s one more. There’s just one that’s really tough…. Like I’mma always put up there, but there’s one that’s really tough. I’m not saying who I don’t want to give him that edge… Because he probably doesn’t believe he has that edge. So, I can’t give him the edge.”
There’s another big man in the Western Conference who is a tough cover for Draymond Green, he admitted. But he refused to name him to avoid giving him that confidence boost at this time.
Among the promising big men in the Western Conference, Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, Domantas Sabonis, or Alperen Sengun would be my best initial guesses on who Draymond Green is talking about here.
Earlier on the stream, Green justified stomping Sabonis’ chest and claimed the Kings’ big man was playing dirty at the time. Therefore, Green has a reason not to want to inflate his ego by calling him a hard matchup right now.
His recent beef with Alperen Sengun and the declaration of “war” with the Rockets would also justify why Green does not want to give Sengun his flowers.
Victor Wembanyama probably believes he has the edge over Draymond Green in terms of having a higher ceiling, as he was one of the most hyped prospects in the league since LeBron James. Moreover, Chet Holmgren is already under scrutiny for not really contributing to the Thunder’s “big three.”
Therefore, my best guess for this is either Alperen Sengun or Domantas Sabonis.
